(NewsNation) — President Trump has threatened to arrest New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani should he defy the administration, and told reporters they “will take a look” at deporting Elon Musk.
The president has criticized Mamdani on several occasions since his victory in the Democratic primary for the New York City mayorship over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
While in Florida on Tuesday, Trump doubled down in his critique of the Ugandan-born socialist, who became a U.S. citizen in 2018.
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If Mamdani defies ICE, Trump would have him arrested
Asked about Mamdani’s comments that he would defy ICE, Trump replied, “We’ll have to arrest him.”
“We don’t need a communist in this country. But if we have one, I’ll be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation. We [would] send him money, we [would] send him all the things that he needs to run a government,” Trump said.
On his campaign website, Mamdani has proposed ending New York City’s cooperation with the immigration agency.
“He’ll ensure our immigrant New Yorkers are protected by strengthening our sanctuary city apparatus: getting ICE out of all City facilities and ending any cooperation, increasing legal support, and protecting all personal data.”
Trump floated to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that the federal funding received by New York should be the same as Florida.
“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally, you know, we’re going to look into everything. And ideally, he’s going to turn out to be much less than a communist. But right now, he’s a communist. That’s not a socialist.”
Trump on deporting Elon Musk: ‘I don’t know’
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, the president was asked a question about the possible deportation of Musk, a native of South Africa.
“I don’t know,” Trump replied.
“We’ll have to take a look. We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? The monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies.”
Musk recently finished his employment with the federal government and has since entered into something of a feud with the president over the administration’s proposed tax cuts and spending package relating to the “big, beautiful bill.”
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It is a far cry from the strong relationship the pair shared during the 2024 presidential campaign and at the onset of Trump’s second term, where Musk spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk reiterated his suggestion for a new political party on Monday as he rebuked Trump’s megabill.
